pieces
by hunntea
Summary: A collection of small rivetra drabbles.
1. Alone

She hears his footsteps and stands up, preparing to greet her captain. As soon as he walks in the room she salutes him. "Good morning, Captain!" she says to him in a voice that was too cheerful for a Thursday morning.

Levi nods at her and sits down at the table, across from Petra. She doesn't sit down, though. She grabs her cup of coffee that was sitting at the table and drinks. After her gulp, she sets it down back on the table and points to it. "Would you like some coffee this morning, Captain?"

He nods again and she walks towards the kitchen. He follows her, but she doesn't seem to notice.

He decides it's better not to make any noises yet because she's humming something. It's soothing and nice. He walks closer to her and stops when his body is only a few inches away from her back.

Petra is done pouring his coffee. "You could have waited in the other room," she tells him. But she's smiling when she turns to face him with his cup of coffee in her hands.

He grabs his cup and tastes it.

"Better than yesterday's batch, Captain?" she teases. She knows that he likes her coffee. He's made that clear before.

It's his turn to smile behind his cup. He sets down his coffee and grabs her right hand. "I thought I told you," he says, "in private, you can call me Levi, Petra."

"Levi," she repeats. Her hand squeezes his.


	2. Notice

Levi knows a lot of things. He knows exactly how long it would take for him to take down three small titans. He knows that if he doesn't count to ten during situations that involve arguing he will blow up.

But there are some things he does not know. There are some things he does not pay attention to; things that he doesn't seem to notice. Like how whenever he walks in the room, Petra is the first to stand up and greet him with a salute. Or how she stares at him while he's training on his own.

When he gets too close to her, he doesn't notice the pink tint covering her cheeks. When he calls for her and she hurriedly makes her way to him, he doesn't notice the faint smile on her lips because the sound of her name rolling off his tongue is so pleasant to her ears.

He notices that there are times when her hair smells like lavender, a scent that isn't too strong but bold enough to get his attention. What he doesn't know is she wears it especially for him.

Petra knows a thing or two about stuff. Random trivia questions, the history of titans, and the exact time it takes to steep tea. She knows that if she doesn't write her father a letter every few days he will march over to where she is just to check up on her.

But despite it all, there are things she tends not to notice. Like how her Captain stiffens a little bit when their bodies make contact. Or how he stares at her when the sun hits her, making her strawberry blonde hair shine.

When she helps Levi without him asking, she doesn't notice his voice grow softer—sweeter even. When she hands him things like paper, a cup, or even a pencil, she doesn't notice how he touches her hand right before he takes the object she is handing him.

She remembers one day when he commented on how her hair smelled nice. She starts to use her lavender shampoo a little more often and hopes he will notice it again. What she doesn't know is that he notices every time.

Together, they are a team. Good cop, bad cop. When they are together they can analyze a problem quickly and with little trouble.

Together, they are a duo. Always expected to be near or around each other.

Together, they know that they can do almost anything when it comes to battle strategies and formations. They know what they are capable of in regards to fighting and body conditions.

What they don't know is that what they each feel individually is mutual.

What they don't know is the unfamiliar feeling of love towards one another.


	3. Gossip

Petra was someone who loved gossip and secrets. So, it wasn'ta surprise that she liked to snoop around to find the hottest news. The high school she attended was small, so everyone knew each other. She wanted to know everything; who was failing what class, who was kissing who, what teacher was seen shopping for laxatives, anything.

She was busy eating lunch when Auruo, her gossip partner in crime, came to sit at her table. "You won't believe what I just found out," was the first thing he said as he sat down.

Petra put down her soft drink, leaned in, and whispered, "What is it?!"

"You know that guy in our art class? The one who sits in the back and groans whenever the teacher announces a new assignment?"

"Levi? The guy you're totally obsessed with?" she asked. She loved poking fun at him.

"Petra, please!" he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, "I just think he's super cool."

She laughed a little and leaned back in her chair as well. "Well, what about him?"

He smirked at her, "I heard he's super into you."

She blushed in response. "You're lying," she said to him. Petra looked around their cafeteria and spotted Levi hanging with his friend Hanji, who looked like they were talking about something they were super interested in. Levi looked cute eating his lunch with that annoyed look on his face.

She looked back at Auruo. "Maybe I should sit next to him in art next time."


	4. things you said (1)

**Written for the "things you said" meme on tumblr.**

 **Things you said at 1 am**

* * *

Levi's phone vibrated on his night stand. He groaned and looked at the clock. 1:00AM. He forced himself up, moving into a seated position. He wasn't sleeping, hell he wasn't even tired, but he was at least trying.

Without looking at who was calling, he answered his phone. "What?" he answers in a harsh tone.

"Levi? Did I wake you up?" was the reply. He knew the voice.

He sighed into the phone and said in a much calmer voice, "No, I wasn't sleeping anyway."

He could hear her shuffle around. She was probably in bed, too.

"I'm sorry, I know we both have to get up at 6:30, but I can't sleep," she tells her friend. "I-I had a nightmare." He could hear her sniffle.

Levi's free hand went up to scratch the back of his head. "Must have been some nightmare," he says back. He didn't know what else to say, but this wasn't the first time his classmate had called him in the middle of the night.

"It was," she started, "but all I could remember was falling."

Touching his lamp on the nightstand, Levi found the switch and turned on his lamp to the lowest light setting he had. "I'm sorry," he lets himself say, trying to sound sympathetic. Which he was, he just had trouble sounding like it.

"Can you, like, talk to me?" she asks, "Like, tell me something, anything."

"Like what?"

"Tell me the plot of your favorite movie," she suggested. "Say anything, I just need to hear someone's voice. It'll help me sleep."

He groaned for the second time. "I don't have a favorite movie."

"Please?"

Levi sighs for the second time. But, he proceeds to talk to her about anything that comes to his mind until he hears the sounds of her soft snoring.


	5. things you said (2)

**Written for the "things you said" meme on tumblr.**

 **Things you said when you thought I was asleep.**

* * *

He decides right then and there that he doesn't mind overnight exhibitions anymore. With the fire slowly dying, and his team falling asleep one by one he has never felt more at peace.

The night sky is filled with stars when everyone is finally sleeping. Levi stays up because he feels it is his duty as captain to take first watch just in case any abnormal titans roam around. His eyes scan the area surrounds him and his squad, and he is thankful that everyone has lived another day.

"Especially you," he says in a low voice towards his female comrade.

Petra sleeps closest to him, and he likes it that way. If any danger were to happen, she would be there in his sights. That was always one less thing to worry about.

"You were reckless today," he tells what he thinks is her sleeping body. He remembers the six-meter titan that they had encountered earlier in the day, and he remembers that she headed off without permission to fight it off first.

She missed a tree trunk, causing her forward motion to become a little lopsided, allowing the monster to grab her. Levi was quick to save her. She then told him it was an honest mistake, that it wouldn't happen again, but he scoffed and turned his back towards her, telling her to stay right behind him. And not too long after that, she kills another one herself.

"You were extremely reckless," he emphasizes, and he wants so badly to take his hand and rub it against her back. His hand itches to, but he knows it isn't ideal. He knows it isn't appropriate.

"But you're a damn good soldier, Ral," he tells her form.

Petra falls asleep smiling that night.


	6. drinks

When he drinks with his squad the first time, Levi is quiet. It isn't awkward, not really, because his team is close.

They drink in celebration. They celebrate that they have lived another day, they celebrate that they have taken safety inside four walls outside of their homes in the Titan's area, and they celebrate each other. The light in the room is low, but not too low that they cannot see each other. There is a warm, yellowish glow around the room.

He examines all of their faces while they are concentrated on each other. Eld and Gunther seemed to be handling themselves well. Neither of their faces have a glow. They would be going back and forth all night, seeing who could outdrink the other. It's a friendly competition, something that they probably did with each other during their cadet days before the survey corps.

"Take one more swig for the team, 'Second in Command'!" Gunther says between laughs. He pushes the bottle towards the taller gentlemen, and he grabs it by the neck.

Eld thrusts the bottle into the air. "To us!" Then, takes another gulp of the warm liquid. The whole team minus their captain yell happily, encouraging him to drink another.

Levi's eyes travel to Oluo. He's handling himself as well, but Levi could tell by the way his cheeks take on a pink hue that he is already almost completely drunk. His lips purse in thought; how many drinks did he have? His mind goes on another thought; maybe he should have been taking note of how many drinks each of his subordinates have taken for future reference.

Then his eyes land on Petra. He doesn't remember her drinking as much as the rest of them. She probably has had just as much to drink as he has. Still, her face takes on the same shade as Oluo. He notices that she seems more relaxed, happier even. She never looks this laid back when on a mission or when they are together. A smile tries to tug its way to his lips, but he purses them. Petra notices.

"Is everything alright, Captain?" Her voice doesn't sound the same. She doesn't sport her usual tone. To Levi's ears it sounds smooth, alluring; a bedroom voice.

And suddenly Levi feels his face become warm. It feels like the temperature in the room has shot up and his hand comes up to his neck to loosen his cravat. Their eyes lock for a second, and he could swear she was giving him a secret message only he could interpret. Her eyes are glazed over and she bats her lashes way too many times in that moment. He decides it is better to look at the floor instead. _Too many drinks_ he thinks. He squeezes the half-filled bottle in his hand.

The room quiets.

Levi clears his throat and sets his half-finished bottle on the table. "I think I've had enough to alcohol for tonight."

Laughter surrounds the room again. "Light weight!" the men chant in good fun. Levi doesn't blame them for their behavior. They're drunk after all.

Petra's elbow makes contact with the table, and she props her chin to lay atop the palm of her hand. Her head tilts a little and she smiles at him. Levi makes it a mission to not look at his strawberry-blonde haired subordinate for the rest of the evening.


	7. kiss meme

**Written for the "kiss meme" on tumblr.**

 **20\. Kisses because everything hurts right now including being loved by you but you're also the only thing that makes it feel better**

* * *

 _This is not the way things should be_ is the first thought that Petra, District 6, had. "I'm so sorry," she whispers to the dead body on the ground. She gets down on her knees, hunching over so that she may use this position as a weak sign of respect for the man, no the boy, she killed.

District 8, Armin Arlert, 18 years old.

The bushes rustle, and her head snaps back up while her hands hover over either side of her belt where dull knives have been hidden. When she turns her head, she relaxes.

Levi, District 6.

Her face softens once more upon seeing him. "It's getting dark," he says to her, looking up to the sky. He looks down at her.

For a second, she lets her mind wander back to the day she was picked for The Hunger Games. She remembers her name being called, ever so slowly. No one would volunteer, no one ever does. What surprised her was that Levi had volunteered right after her name had been called. Her heart had done flips that day. One flip for the fact that she had someone in there with her, another flip for the possibility of having to kill the love of her life.

Still, Petra cannot decide if she can trust him or not. She had seen many times on television how the Games have changed people. Loved ones turn on one another and friends turning into enemies. But he isn't tense. His eyes aren't bloodthirsty nor scared. She wants to think that the pact they made before running for their lives earlier today was true; she wants to trust him so badly with her life because she is scared to _death_ of the Game.

He makes his way to her, leaves crunching and twigs snapping under his feet. She can't help but wince. Has he always been this noisy?

Petra gets up anyway and before she walks away she looks at the boy. She doesn't want to cry, but when Levi gets closer she allows her tears to fall and she allows her hand to squeeze Levi's arm as a form of comfort.

It is not until they get to their safe spot for the night that Petra begins to sob quietly. As the canons go off for all those dead on the first day, she remembers the fear in Armin's eyes. She remembers how fast things had escalated, how fast Armin had been to betray her trust. She remembers his weak voice spitting out _sorry_ as his eyes closed.

Petra hugs herself. Her heart hurts. Her head hurts. _Everything_ hurts.

She takes little notice of Levi when he crouches down in front of her. "It's the Game, Petra," he whispers to her.

She can feel him getting closer and closer and she wants nothing more than to hold him. But she does not want to allow that sort of luxury in the Games. Instead, she backs up closer to the walls of the cave. "Don't," she squeaks between cries. "Don't come any closer."

He doesn't listen and she feels his arms wrap around her, desperately trying to provide comfort and warmth. He kisses the top of her head. "For now, we need to focus on staying alive."

His grip loosens on her and he crouches lower so that they are face to face. "We need to stay together."

Nodding, Petra loosens her own grip on herself. Her hands grip his shirt and she breathes heavily, trying to catch her breath.

They look at each other, and the intensity in his eyes hurts Petra more than anything else in that moment. Her lips crash into his, a clumsy excuse for a kiss but he doesn't seem to care. His own hands wrap tighter around her waist, but it doesn't last long because the moment he tastes salt he pulls away.

"What if I have to kill you, too?" the tone of her voice is enough to break him.

"I won't let that happen," he promises. This time, he leads the kiss.


	8. kiss meme (2)

**Written for the "kiss meme" on tumblr.**

 **kiss**

* * *

It isn't until Levi wobbles his way back onto his feet that he hears his strawberry blonde date laughing at him. When the sound hits his ears he feels them warm up along with his cheeks. But, he can't deny that what he hears is sweet.

Her laughter is contagious because he finds himself failing to pull back a smile.

Petra can't help but hold her sides. "I had no idea you had such great balance," she manages to say between her fit of giggles.

"I had no idea that the pile of snow was that hard," he replies, dusting the remaining bits of snow off of himself. He eyes her playfully in hopes that she would settle down a bit because he doesn't think that falling should be that funny. "It really wasn't that funny, Petra," he tells her, pulling her close to him so that they were face to face.

When that doesn't work, his mind wanders to two options: use his gloved hand to cover her mouth or use his own mouth.

By the time he makes up his mind she's wiping tears from her face. "That was so funny, I—" and any other thing she was going to say at that moment was gone and replaced with a soft sigh. He decided stopping her laughter with his lips seemed to be a better option.

The only thing Petra wanted to do now was kiss him back.


	9. kiss meme (3)

Written for the "kiss meme" on tumblr.

12\. A kiss that shouldn't have happened

* * *

It shouldn't be happening, but it is. What irks Petra is not the fact that it is _wrong,_ but that it feels so very _right._ It feels as if she has been waiting for this exact thing her entire life. But, to both his and her misfortune, the action arrives at the worst possible moment.

She is the first to pull away, blinking back tears as to not smudge her make-up. "This isn't right," she whispers to Levi, turning her back towards him. She begins pacing back and forth, the only thing keeping her hands from ripping out her hair in frustration is the veil she is holding. "Levi, I— _we_ shouldn't have done this. Why? Why here? Why now?"

Her words prick his heart like needles and he desperately looks for an answers. Why did he do it? She's getting married. How could he do this to her? What did he think he was going to accomplish? "I love you, Petra," he says, and she swears that she catches a quaver in his tone of voice. She swears that she feels her own heart drop.

"It's too late for that," her own voice quivers. Without turning to face him, a slender finger points to the door. "I need you to leave, Levi."

"But—"

"I am getting _married_ in two hours," she bites, clenching her jaw and grinding her teeth to stop herself from crying.

When she hears the door click shut, she does not feel the satisfaction that she thought she would. Instead, she feels guilt and heartache. When she finally allows herself to break, she drops to the floor and hunches over so that her tears won't hit her wedding gown. She could always fix her make-up before it was time to go.


	10. kiss meme (4)

**Written for the "kiss meme" on tumblr.**

 **on every bit of newly visible skin as clothing is slowly peeled away**

* * *

It's when Petra peels off her jacket and reveals her collar bones that Levi loses all self-control that he's bee harboring the entire night.

"Why are you looking at me like th—," she begins to say, but the sentence never finishes because he has her backed up against a wall with his lips on her neck and his hands on her hips.

He thinks he hears her say his name; and thinking that is enough for his hands to act on their own because they start lifting up her shirt inch by inch.

And the lower he travels, passed her neck, passed her collarbones, the higher her top goes.

He stops to take her in. It's a mistake to do so because the sight of her takes his breath away and the sounds of her heavy breathing takes his mind places where it shouldn't go. But just because it shouldn't go doesn't mean he won't stop thinking about it.

Petra taking his hand and guiding him around his apartment catches him off guard, and before he can ask where she's going she's in front of his bedroom door turning the knob.

She is still guiding him as she makes her way unto his bed. She gets on first, but when he tries to crouch over her, she stops him and pushes him slightly.

This confuses him, but not for long because she finishes what his itching hands were starting, slowly peeling off her top and tossing it in his direction.

He watches her lean backwards on his bed. "You may now continue, Mr. Ackerman," she says playfully.

And, like a good boy with no self-control left in his body, he does.


	11. ding!

**in which petra and levi are online friends only**

* * *

 _Ding!_

The sound notification from her laptop is enough to make Petra leap from her bed to her desk.

"I wonder who it is," her voice sing-songs. She knows exactly who it is. They've been friends since they met through a mutual friend on some random social networking site. She can't remember which, but the fact that she doesn't makes her smile. It shows how long they have known each other.

She's never met him in real life though.

Her index finger glides across the trackpad, stopping to click on the instant messaging icon on her desktop. She grins as she opens up the message.

 _Hey, are you up?_

Even though no one is around to see her expressions, she purses her lips playfully in an attempt to keep from smiling even more.

 _Levi, we live in the same time zone. It's like, the afternoon. Why would I be sleeping?_ She types swiftly. After a quick read-through, she presses send and waits for him to respond.

The corner of their chat box starts to indicate that Levi was typing. While waiting, Petra browses through his blog, seeing if anything new has happened since the last time she checked it. Which was last night before bed.

 _Not everyone can be an early bird like you. I just woke up. Rico was blowing up my phone with texts saying that I should be getting ready for work. I don't even think I have work today._

"Oh, Levi. You poor, tired man," Petra mumbles. Upon reading Rico's name, the mutual friend of theirs, she checks her phone to see if she has any unread texts from her. None. She shrugs and decides that she will text her some time today.

 _Check your work schedule!_ Petra sends.

 _Last time you did this you really did have work and you were late!_ She sends out once more. Levi wasn't one to double send, but she was.

After looking at their chat for a few seconds and not seeing any action of Levi replying, she minimizes the window and opens up a shopping website.

 _Ding!_

 _Ding!_

 _Ding!_

Three replies in a row. It was followed shortly by the sound of Levi signing out. _He probably does have work today_ Petra thinks before opening the window once more.

 _Shit_

 _I do have work_

 _I gotta go. I'll talk to you when I get off today or something. Cya_

He logged off before she had a chance to say bye. Petra doesn't mind, she laughs quietly to herself and closes the window. Before standing up, she puts her status as idle.


End file.
